Physicists

(1930- ) Russian Experimentalist, Solid State Physicist Zhores Alferov is a major figure in solid state physics, whose groundbreaking work on semiconductors led to the creation of the physics of modern miniaturized electronic devices such as cell phones, pagers, and compact disc (CD) players. For this work he shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in […]

(1923- ) American Theoretical Physicist, Solid State Physicist Philip Warren Anderson shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in physics with john housbrook van vleck and nevill francis mott for his theoretical work on the behavior of electrons in magnetic, noncrystalline solids. He was born in Indianapolis on December 13, 1923; shortly afterward, Harry Warren Anderson, […]

(1905-1991) American Experimentalist, Particle Physicist Carl David Anderson built an enhanced cloud chamber with which he discovered the positive electron or positron, an achievement that garnered him the 1936 Nobel Prize in physics, as well as the positive and negative muon (or mu meson). He was born in New York City on September 3, […]

(1775-1836) French Theoretical and Experimental Physicist (Electrodynamics), Mathematical Physicist Andre-Marie Ampere founded a new branch of physics that he named electrodynamics: the study of the relationship between mechanical forces and electric and magnetic forces. In his honor the unit of electric current is called the ampere or amp. He was born in Polemieux, near […]

(1911-1988) American Experimental Physicist, Particle Physicist, Electronic Engineer Luis W. Alvarez was an experimentalist of extraordinary scope and ability, who won the 1968 Nobel Prize in physics for his development of the hydrogen bubble chamber, which led to great advances in the discovery of high-energy unstable states of nuclear particles. He was born in […]

(1908-1995) Swedish Plasma Physicist, Astrophysicist Hannes Alfven was the founder of the modern field of plasma physics, the study of electrically conducting gases, and the father of the branch of plasma physics known as magnetohydrodynam-ics (MHD), the study of plasmas in magnetic fields. He was honored for this work with the 1970 Nobel Prize […]

(1908-1991) American Theoretical Physicist, Solid State Physicist, Electrical Engineer John Bardeen was a giant of solid state physics, whose greatest achievements were the invention of the transistor, with william bradford shockley and Walter Battrain, and the development of a comprehensive theory of superconductivity, with john robert schrieffer and Leon Cooper. These contributions made him […]

(c. 287-212 b.c.) Greek Theoretician and Experimentalist (Mechanics, Hydrostatics), Mathematician, Astronomer Archimedes is widely viewed as the greatest scientist of the ancient world. As a physicist, he is credited with establishing the fields of statics, a branch of mechanics dealing with the forces on an object or in a system in equilibrium, and hydrostatics, […]

(1814-1874) Swedish Spectroscopist, Astronomer Anders Angstrom is known as the father of spectroscopy, the branch of physics that studies light by using a prism or diffraction grating to spread out the light into its range of individual colors or spectrum. Angstrom was born in Logdo, Sweden, on August 13, 1814, the son of a […]

(1700-1782) Dutch/Swiss Theoretical and Experimental Physicist (Hydrodynamics), Mathematical Physicist Daniel Bernoulli was an early pioneer of hydrodynamics, who also laid the groundwork for the later development of the kinetic theory of gases. He is famous for discovering what has come to be called the Bernoulli effect, the relation between the pressure in a steadily […]